Ms. Fudge (for
herself, Ms. Chu, and
Mr. Grijalva) submitted the following
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress that a day
should be designated as National Voting Rights Act Mobilization
Day.

Whereas the affirmation of the Declaration of Independence
that “all men are created equal” too often has been disregarded throughout our
Nation’s history;

Whereas voting is the fundamental political right because
it is “preservative of all rights”;

Whereas the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the
Constitution prohibit racial discrimination in voting by the States;

Whereas when Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of
1965, certain States employed tests and devices that were race-neutral on their
face but were used to prevent racial minorities from registering and
voting;

Whereas when Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of
1965, certain States and their political subdivisions had resorted to
substituting new discriminatory practices for ones that were enjoined by the
Federal courts, requiring aggrieved plaintiffs to assume the burden of repeated
litigation to vindicate their fourteenth and fifteenth amendment rights;

Whereas Congress enacted section 5 of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965 to require certain States and political subdivisions to submit new
or modified voting practices for Federal review before they can be used;

Whereas Congress reauthorized section 5 of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 in 1970, 1975, and 1982 after finding a continuing pattern
of racial discrimination in voting by the covered jurisdictions;

Whereas the Supreme Court repeatedly has upheld section 5
against constitutional challenges, and pointed to section 5 as a model for the
appropriate exercise of Congress’ enforcement authority under the
Reconstruction Amendments;

Whereas section 5 has proven to be one of the most
effective provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in blocking and deterring
many thousands of discriminatory voting practices that would have denied or
abridged the ability of minority citizens to register, vote, and elect
candidates of their choice;

Whereas Congress in 2006 reauthorized section 5 by
overwhelming margins based upon an extensive record of continued racial voting
discrimination within the covered jurisdictions;

Whereas section 5 continues to require Federal review for
changes in all or part of 16 States with histories of official discrimination,
where the legislative record showed that the bulk of racial voting
discrimination has remained concentrated;

Whereas States and political subdivisions that show a
clean recent record of voting rights compliance can “bail out” from section 5
coverage;

Whereas there are ongoing election problems in both the
covered and the non-covered States which urgently require the attention of
Congress, including voting delays, badly designed and executed voter purges,
unduly restrictive voter identification laws, and deceptive and intimidating
phone calls, flyers, and billboards, but these problems do not necessarily
require the non-covered States to comply with the section 5 preclearance
remedy;

Whereas section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 remains
necessary to protect the hard-won gains in minority electoral participation in
the covered States since 1965 against the imposition of new racially
discriminatory voting practices;

Whereas the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral
arguments in a constitutional challenge to the 2006 reauthorization of section
5; and

Whereas February 27 would be an appropriate day for the
Nation to focus upon the historic and continuing importance of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 in ensuring equality at the ballot box: Now, therefore, be
it

That it is the sense of Congress that a day
should be designated as National Voting Rights Act Mobilization
Day, to remind all Americans of the critical role that the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 continues to play in protecting the right to vote, and for
them to voice their support for this landmark civil rights law.